Battle of Losecoat Field

The Battle of Losecoat Field was fought on 12 March 1470 during the Wars of the Roses. The royal army of King Edward IV of England crushed a Lancastrian rebel army in Rutland, weakening Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick's cause.

Background
Following the disastrous Battle of Edgecote Moor in 1469, King Edward IV of England was captured by rebel forces loyal to his former ally Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. The King was still highly popular among the nobility and the commoners, however, and Warwick was unable to dethrone the King or rule in his stead. Rebellions soon broke out, forcing Neville to release the King. Neville's influence was worse off now than it was before his rebellion, and he decided to instigate another rebellion in Lincolnshire in a desperate bid to regain power.

Battle
This time, King Edward moved swiftly, not allowing the rebels to connect with Warwick. At Losecoat Field on 12 March 1470, Edward's outnumbered army defeated and routed the rebels, forcing Warwick to flee to France, where King Louis XI of France reconciled him with the exiled Lancastrian leader, Queen Margaret of Anjou. A Lancastrian comeback was now in the making.